Shingle fastening nail and building construction



R. E. OGDEN Aug. 5, 1958 SHINGLE FASTENING NAIL AND BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed July 20, 1954 INVENTOR fies M015. 0605M (i M United States Patent SHINGLE FASTENING NAIL AND BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Richard E. Ogden, West Nyack, N. Y., assignor to The Patent and Licensing Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 20, 1954, Serial No. 444,528

1 Claim. (Cl. 108-33) This invention relates to an improved shingle fastening nail and to a building construction utilizing the nail.

There has been rather wide-spread use of sheathing materials on the exterior of buildings, and particularly houses, not utilizing wood. These materials include principally insulation sheathing, which is a board material formed of wood fiber, usually made on a paper making machine, and having a thickness of from /2" to 7 The board is often made utilizing bitumen as a sizing material and may also be saturated with bitumen. This board has substantial insulating value and is ordinarily applied in large sheets such that the cost of application is comparatively low. Another form of sheathing is gypsum board, usually covered on both sides with paper. All of these boards shall be referred to herein as non-wood sheathing.

Ordinarily, non-wood sheathing has been used primarily with wood siding such as clapboard siding, wherein the nails used to fix the siding in place are driven into the studs of the building. There have been many attempts to utilize shingles, including both wood shingles and asbestos-cement shingles over non-wood sheathing, but these have not been particularly successful, primarily because the nail holding power of non-wood sheathing is limited, and where the nails must be driven in areas not supported by studding, they may be easily pulled out. To combat this, a number of fasteners have been devised, including nails which spread after being driven home, or nails which are twisted from the inside of the building. These products have suffered either from a lack of holding power or a tendency to crack the asbestoscement shingles, or a high installation cost.

U. S. Patent No. 2,368,867 describes a shingle fastening hook nail which has been known for some years, but which has not been widely used since the shingles are not always securely held in place with this device by the method shown in the patent. For example, if the hook nails are not in perfect alignment, the shingle may come out of the hook portion, and since it is not otherwise held, it may be dislodged from the wall. Even in wood sheathing construction, the best previous method of holding asbestos-cement shingles involved the use of nails through holes in the upper part of the shingle as well as face nails through holes near the lower edge of the shingle.

My co-pending patent application, Serial No. 400,055, filed December 23, 1953, relates to an improved process for fastening shingles to the wall of a building and to the wall formed thereby. The process involves the use of a hook nail, substantially as described in the abovementioned U. S. Patent, No. 2,368,867, driven through holes at the upper edge of the shingle and then fastening the shingles in the next row above in the hook portion of the nail. It is sometimes desirable, however, to add an additional layer of insulation and at the same time, provide a shadow line under the shingles. In the ordinary face nailing system, this has sometimes been accomplished by the use of a backer board which is usually an insulation board of about thickness.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for fastening shingles on a wall.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved process for fastening shingles'on a wall over non-wood sheathing.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved process for fastening shingles together with shingle backers over non-wood sheathing.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved shingle fastening nail suitable for fastening shingles and shingle backers on a wall.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved shingle fastening nail suitable for fastening shingles and shingle backers on a wall over nonwoocl sheathing.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided an improved shingle fastening nail particularly adapted to secure a shingle and shingle backer to nonwood sheathing. The improved shingle fastening nail is a part of the building construction in which the nails are driven through holes near the upper edge of the shingle, through the top of a shingle backer, and into the sheathing. The nail is provided with a substantially horizontal shaft upon which the shingle backer of the next row above rests and a hook portion in which the bottom edge of the shingle of the next row above rests.

The invention may be best understood by reference to the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention, but it will be understood that variations and substitutions may be made within the scope of the claim. 7

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shingle fastening nail in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of an exterior wall segment showing the nails of Fig. l in place; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an alternative form of the nail illustrated in Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is another alternative form of the nail shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a segment of wall showing a plurality of shingles and shingle backers held in place by the nail of the present invention.

Fig. 1 discloses a shingle fastening nail 10 comprising a single piece of wire which may be an aluminum alloy, tin coated spring bronze or other metal, preferably noncorrosive, bent to form legs 11 and 12 spread by a bend 13 and defining an angle of between 30 and and preferably 45 At the lower end of the leg 12 and at substantially right angles thereto, is a shaft 14 lying on the side of leg 12, opposite to that on which leg 11 lies. At the end of said shaft 14 is a U-shaped hook portion 15. The end of leg 11 is preferably formed with a sharp point having a bevelled face 16 preferably lying on the side of leg 11 toward leg 12, the plane of said point 16 preferably being at right angles to said leg 12.

With reference to Fig. 2, a nail 10 is shown after it has been driven into non-wood sheathing 17 first passing through hole 18 in lower shingle 19 and through lower backer board 20. Shaft 14 supports backer board 21 and upper shingle 22. In driving the nail, it is merely held in position in the hole 18 and struck with a hammer at bend 13. The final blow causes leg 12 to be parallel with the shingle 19.

For use in the present invention, shingles are preferably pre-punched with four holes near the top thereof and with no face nail holes. They are also preferably shingles having a straight bottom edge rather than a wavy bottom edge. Four shingle fastening nails are usually suitable for a 24 inch long shingle, but wider shingles may utilize a greater number of nails. The shingle backer board ordinarily comes in 48 inch lengths and is of a width preferably just slightly narrower than the shingle. Thus, if the shingles are properly staggered with relation to the hacker board such that the edges do not coincide, it is not necessary to use a backer strip between adjacent shingles, particularly if the hacker board is asphalt coated.

Fig. 3 discloses a device alternative to the one shown in Fig. 1. In this case, the shaft 14 is not at right angles to the leg 12, but forms an angle of about 75 therewith; In Fig. 4, the shaft 14 is at an angle of about 45 with leg 12. These devices tend to hold the hacker board in place prior to the insertion of a shingle. In any case, the shingle resting in hook 15 is lower than the lower edge of the backer board providing a triple edge.

As shown in Fig. 5, the building construction comprises an exterior wall of sheathing and shingles with backer boards. As will be seen from Fig. 5, the shingles on the bottom row are first face nailed to a wood strip or the like 24, through a backer board. A row of the shingle fastening nails are then driven through the top holes of the shingles, through the top of the backer board and into the sheathing. These nails then form a means for securing the lower edges of the upper backer boards and shingles and consequently the construction is self-aligning and can be rapidly applied with the shingles and backer boards being securely held, both top and bottom.

While the nail is principally advantageous in securing asbestos-cement shingles and insulation backer boards over non-wood sheathing, it is suitable for installation of wood shingles as well, and the construction may be over wood sheathing as well as insulation sheathing.

The improved shingle fastening nail and the building construction formed therewith combine the advantages of ease of driving the shingle fastening nail, automatic alignment of the shingles, automatic alignment of hacker 4 boards, application equal to or quicker than face nailing, both top and bottom of the shingles and backer board are held firmly and one size of nail is suitable for both thick and thin sheathing material.

The weight of the shingles and backer board actually contribute to holding them to the wall. An important advantage is the increased shadow line attained by the use of the nail together with the backer board. Still another advantage is the resiliency of the present construction wherein thebacker board serves to reduce possible breakage of cement-asbestos shingles for example.

What is claimed is:

A building construction comprising an exterior wall of a plurality of asbestos-cement shingles over a plurality of backer boards arranged in precisely horizontal successive rows fastened to insulation sheathing by means of shingle fastening devices each comprising a single piece of wire bent upon itself to form a pair of legs extending, in driven position, at an angle of approximately to with respect to each other, the first of said legs having a shaft extending outwardly therefrom and a U-shaped hook at the end of said shaft, the second of said legs having a prong at the free end thereof wherein said second leg is driven inwardly and downwardly through a prepunched hole in the top of the shingle, through a hacker board into the sheathing while the shingle of the next row above rests in said U-shaped hook and the backer board of said next row above rests on said shaft, the shingle fastening devices being arranged in precise horizontal rows so as to provide self-aligning resting places for the next successive horizontal row of shingles and backer boards.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain of 1912 

